


Wings

by Aliyaxx



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 15:38:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10468362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliyaxx/pseuds/Aliyaxx
Summary: Thalia Gold has always felt out of place in her town, her world. her best friend Trent Snow has always been the only one who understood her. She constantly searches for who she is with no success, until one faithful accident in the woods changes everything...





	1. Chapter 1

7:00 am. The shrill sound of my annoying alarm bored into my brain, forcing me to drag myself out of bed. I walked into the bathroom, faced the mirror and stared bug-eyed at the zombie staring back at me. I was not a morning person.  
My dark hair was a tousled, tangled mess of dark curls. I went through two hairbrushes trying to get through my afro. I washed my face, though it didn’t make me look any better. It was purely out of habit that I did it. I had given up any hope of bettering my appearance a long time ago.  
After I managed to somewhat tame my mane, I went back into my room and pulled on the most unnoticeable clothes I could find. I was a quiet person who didn’t like to be seen. Keeping under the radar is what I do, and I’m pretty good at it if I do say so myself.  
I took a quick look around the room. There were clothes strewn all over the floor, my bed was unmade and my computer was still on from the night before. I tidied it a bit. Didn’t want Cathy to have a heart attack when she did her daily snoop in here. I grabbed my headphones from where I’d left them on the desk and made my way downstairs.  
When I walked into the kitchen, my mother, Cathy was sitting at the table. Her deep-set eyes darted across this mornings newspaper and she sipped form a cup of coffee in her other hand. She looked up as I came in and smiled at me. She put down the paper and placed both hands on her lap.  
I looked at her more closely. Her eyes seemed duller than usual and they had dark circles underneath them, as if she hadn’t slept to well. There was something about her smile. That was just it. It wasn’t her smile. It wasn’t fake but it wasn’t as warm and bright as it usually was. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t ask what. She’d never tell me anyway. Cathy wasn’t too good at hiding her feelings, but she was even worse at talking about them.  
“ Morning, honey”, she croaked, her voice wispy and slight.  
“ Morning. You sick? You sound like your sinuses have seen better days”  
“ No, don’t worry, I’m fine. Just a little drowsy, that’s all. – Oh, your hair!”  
“ Yeah. It’s a disaster, I know. I’m gonna need a new hairbrush. Maybe three.”  
My mother sighed, a mixture of sadness and utter exasperation.  
“ Thalia, your hair is so beautiful. It would be perfect, if you would only put effort into it.”  
“ I’d like to, trust me. But it just wastes valuable time that I don’t have. Which would you rather me to do; Pass Algebra or have nice hair?”  
“ I’d tell you the answer, but then I’d be a role model for bad mothers everywhere.”  
I chuckled as she wrapped one of my curls around her slender index finger. “ Such a pretty colour” she mused. I rolled my eyes. “ As you have told me- a thousand times before”. I took a apple from the wooden fruit bowl in front of me and bit into it. Slobs like me didn’t have the time for cereal.  
I looked down at my hand and rubbed at a patch of yellow-ish skin discolouration on my right wrist” It’s just pigmentation”, Cathy told me. I snorted. “ The perks of being mixed race”. Cathy tsked, “ There is nothing wrong with being half-cast. There are countless amounts of people in this world who would kill to have your skin”.  
In truth being half cast was extremely annoying and quite isolating. You belonged to nobody. You’re not white, but you’re not totally black either. The purgatory of skin colouration.  
“ Right”, I answered sarcastically, “ Thanks, unknown father. Wherever you may be.”  
Cathy was suddenly serious. “ Thalia, don’t be so rude. Anyway, you know we don’t talk about him.” Geez. I guessed that her sense of humour didn’t get enough sleep either.  
Just when I was thinking about how to apologize, I heard a knock on the front door. I looked up at the clock on the wall. 8:00 on the dot. Did I expect anything less? I waved at Cathy, before getting up, grabbing my bag and walking over to the door. “ Bye, honey. Have a good day!”.I wanted to inform her that that was impossible, that going to school had erased an chance of that happening, but I didn’t. Just because my morning was ruined, didn’t mean I had to ruin hers too.  
I opened the front door to a familiar face, my best friend Trent Snow. The only person in the world who could listen to my constant whining about life without being bored to death. I’d recognise those hazel brown eyes and that crooked smile anywhere. He was just on time to walk with me to Houston Prep, our high school. Perfect, as usual.


	2. Chapter 2

On the way, Trent talked to me as normal, being his usual charismatic, talkative self. I wasn’t paying attention though. I had my headphones on and I was listening to Heathens. Nothing like twenty-one pilots to make you forget about your morning History quiz. After a while though, Trent finally realised that I was on another planet.  
“ Thal!”, he said, clicking his fingers in front of my face. I took my headphones off and turned to him. “ Sorry. Again.”  
He grinned and shook his head. “ S’okay. I’m used to it after 10 years.”, he told me, with a glint in his eye and a tone of voice that reminded me exactly why we were best friends. That and he was the only one who put up with me. He had the patience of a saint. That was probably part of the reason why our friendship had lasted so long.  
We stopped in Starbucks to cater for my coffee needs. Caffeine was the only way for me to sit through 6½ hours with a bunch of lobotomised fools who I didn’t want to care about. As well as a Cappuccino, Trent also got two caramel sticky buns and a humongous slice of double chocolate fudge cake. I laughed in disbelief. “ You’re an animal”.  
“ I know”  
“Okay then. If reincarnation is real and you could be any animal in your next life, then what would you come back as?”  
“Paris Hilton’s poodle. At least that way, I’d have my own mansion. The loss of my dignity would be a small price to pay”  
“ Nah. I don’t think so.”  
“ What do you think I’d be?”  
“ I’m gonna say…a wolf.”  
Trent straightened up, his face suddenly deadly serious. “ Why’s that?”, he asked, his voice now blank and monotone. I shrugged passively. “ Just something I was picking up”, I lied.  
The truth was that I had had a dream the other night. Trent had been in it, but as a wolf. Like a proper one with fur and stuff. I can’t remember how I knew that it was him. I just did. It was weird, but completely impossible, so I thought nothing of it. I normally have a lot of faith in the meaning of my dreams- when there’s a possibility of them actually happening. I guess that rules that one out though.  
Trent got quieter then. He didn’t speak to me again until we reached the school. Even then it was just to tell me he’d see me later. I didn’t know what his problem was. Something was going on with him. I didn’t know what, but something.  
Three weeks previous, he had arrived back after leaving town for a month. I’d asked him what he’d been doing, and he said it was for a “family reason”. What family takes their 16-year-old son out of school for a month for family reasons? Not Trent’s that’s for sure!  
I sat down in my homeroom, with all these questions going through my head. It was the first day back at school after Spring Break and I was ready to get back into my routine of keeping my head down, shutting up and blending in with my desk as much as I possibly could. But then something made me look up. Someone.  
High School is full of cliques. Categories that every individual fits into. Being the New Kid is a category in itself. Everybody’s eyes on you, judging your every move. It’s enough to shatter even the world’s strongest mind. Generally, new kids are quiet. They don’t do anything that’s worth noticing, only speak when they’re spoken to. All except one.  
He walked in as if he owned the place. Threw his backpack on the desk and casually slid into his seat. He was like the blaring alarm that woke you up for work in the morning. He was sudden and striking and you couldn’t ignore him. I desperately tried to concentrate on looking at the immature graffiti on my desk, but it was very hard not to stare at him, almost impossible.  
Turns out that Tall, Dark and Handsome had a brother. And he just happened to be sitting at the desk in front of me. He had short midnight hair and tanned olive-toned skin. When he turned , I caught a glimpse of those green eyes that seemed as if they were staring into your soul as they fell on you. He was about 6 ft 3 with a killer jawline and a muscular physique that put the Statue of David to shame.  
Anybody with eyes would’ve seen that he was hot, but there was something more about him that I just couldn’t put my finger on. Whether it was his eyes or his hair or the way his skin shone in the morning sun. He was humanity at its finest. He was flawlessly beautiful. So much it hurt. As I said already, I was going for unnoticeable, so I’m sure you can imagine my utter shock, when he turned around to talk to me.


	3. Chapter 3

“ Hi”  
I looked around to make sure that my ears weren’t deceiving me. That he was actually speaking to me. They weren’t. He was. He was gazing intently into my eyes. He was looking at me. But more than that. It was as if he was looking inside of me. There was something about him that made me nervous, something that I couldn’t quite guess.  
“ I’m Dylan, by the way. Dylan Scott.”. I nodded my head. He grinned at me. His smile could probably light up Tokyo during a power cut. “ So. Do you have a name, or am I going to have to guess?”. I gulped. Finally, after staring blankly at him for a couple of seconds, I opened my mouth and miraculously words came out.  
“ It’s Thalia. Thalia Gold”. Tiffany Wilson, the head cheerleader was turned around staring at us wide-eyed, blinking in disbelief, probably wondering why someone like him would ever talk to someone like me. I should’ve been offended, but I wasn’t. How could I blame her? I was wondering the exact same thing.  
“ Well, Thalia Gold, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Thalia Gold. What a beautiful name.” That made me blush. I could feel me face burning up. His voice was just so perfect and charming that it made your heart melt, made every bone in your body feel as limp as cafeteria gello. He was about to say something more but was interrupted by the arrival of our homeroom teacher Ms. Allens.  
I tried to concentrate and listen to whatever activity Ms. Allens was suggesting we should all partake in, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop myself from sneaking quick glances at Dylan constantly. The crazy thing about it was, whenever I looked at him, I could see him looking at me too. But it wasn’t just the fact that he was looking at me that was strange. It was the way he was looking.  
He was gazing, like he was trying to figure me out. The alluring stare of his amazing emerald eyes was enough to make you swoon. I was just a normal teenage girl. Actually no, that’s being too generous. I’m semi-normal, on a good day. Yet this beautiful boy, this very essence of perfection, was looking at me out of the other 12 girls in the room, Including Kate Summers, whose hair fell around her shoulders in soft blonde waves, had clear blue eyes, who looked like she could be a professional supermodel. He looked like he was actually interested. Interested in me.  
Just when I was about to pass out from the sheer impossibility of it all, the bell rang, saving me from making a fool of myself. I wanted to jump from my seat and rush out the door without a word to anyone, but something inside made me stay. Curiosity probably. Cathy had always said that I was too inquisitive for my own good. She was right about that, as she was about most things.  
I gathered my books and my plastic binder in my arms, as I prepared to leave, a little slower than usual. I hoped that Dylan wasn’t one of those people who ran out the door the minute class ended. I looked up. He wasn’t. Or if he was, he waited for me anyway.  
“ Hello again”, he beamed, with that blinding smile of his. I tucked a loose curl behind my ear, a habit I’d picked up from Cathy. We both did it during nervous or awkward situations.  
“ So how did you find it?”  
“ It was alright, I guess, for a first class. The teacher was a little weird though. She seemed kind of distracted.”  
“ Oh”, I laughed, “ Did she?”. He had picked up on that. It was obvious that Ms Allens couldn’t take her eyes off him, despite the fact that he was a student. God knows that was what everyone else was doing too.  
As we walked out of class we got talking. I am proud to say that there were no awkward silences between us, like I’d expected. He mostly talked while I listened, but that’s beside the point. He told me that he’d just moved to Vermont from Toronto. He was living with his Aunt, after his dad’s girlfriend moved into his old place. He hated the girl, so instead of pretending he was okay with the whole situation for the rest of his life, he decided to move down here and live with his dad’s sister.  
He was in the middle of asking me about my life, when we met Trent in the hallway. The minute Trent saw him; he stopped in his tracks and stared at him. He was glaring at him, death-glaring actually. Something I’d only ever seen him do when his sister Eliza broke his iPod. Dylan had the same sort of expression on his face, although in his case, he was still smiling sweetly, as if mocking Trent in a way.  
I briefly introduced them, as to break the silence, which was unnerving me. Dylan raised an eyebrow in a perfect arch. “ So, Thalia,” he asked me “ Is this your brother?”. Trent was very clearly Hispanic and I was obviously of African-American descent. There was no way anyone in their right mind would ever mistake us for siblings. Dylan was either blind, stupid, or trying to get at Trent for some reason.  
Trent chuckled and shook his head, as if laughing at some joke I didn’t get. He brushed past Dylan and wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a sort-of hug. “ No, no. We’re just friends. Best Friends.”, he stated, sounding uncharacteristically possessive. Dylan sighed. “ Really? How nice”, he said, his voice going up at least two octaves. I doubted that he meant what he said. He sounded more fake than Tiffany Wilson’s “natural” blonde hair.  
They both stood there in silence, glaring at each other again. I could feel the intense hostility in the air. It was like they were having a conversation through staring. I was glad that I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying. Call me crazy, but I doubt that it would be pretty.


	4. Chapter 4

Both Dylan and Trent were in my next class, so we walked to class together. Trent wasn’t happy about it one bit. I could see it in his eyes when I suggested the very idea. I didn’t see why he was acting this way. Dylan hadn’t done anything to him, yet Trent was acting as if the guy had just shot his dog with a .357 Magnum. Trent’s attitude didn’t change as we made our way to French class. It was so tense I was afraid to breathe.  
Trent bombarded Dylan with an assortment of unnecessary questions like “ Where did you move from?”, “Why’d you come to Vermont? and “ How’d you meet Thalia?”. I was sure that,“ How soon can you leave?”, was one of the other questions in his head. He was luck he didn’t ask that. I would’ve punched him in the gut. I was already struggling not to hit him over the head for acting like such a tool.  
But, of course, Dylan replied to each of Trent’s questions in record time, each answer smoother and slicker then the last. Trent kept his arm around me the entire time, like he was marking his territory. He dint seem like himself at all. Dylan didn’t seem to care. He continued to chat away to me, like he’d known me forever. It was weird, but I had to admit that there was something strangely familiar about him.  
It made me a little nervous talking to him, as if it wasn’t right. That I shouldn’t be talking to him or even near him for that matter. Trent tightened his arm around me, sensing I was worried like he always did. I twisted my necklace around my finger and it immediately calmed me down. It had always made me feel safe. The dad I never knew supposedly gave it to me. I made my own assumptions about him being a dick, because Cathy never tells me anything about him. I wouldn’t have worn it, but I’ve just had it for long , ever since I can remember. It feels like a part of me now.  
I walked into the classroom and as I did, Trent jumped in front of Dylan to grab the desk next to me. I was unbelievably confused. I had never had this much attention before and I wasn’t sure if I liked it. I looked at Trent and he looked right back at me. I was worried. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t my Trent. I’d never seen him like this.  
He stared in Dylan’s direction loathingly, with sheer hate in his eyes. I felt slightly empty inside. I didn’t want to lose my best friend. He was everything to me. He didn’t like Dylan, I knew that. Well, that’s the understatement of the year. He obviously held some deep hatred for Dylan that I couldn’t quite comprehend. I inhaled deeply and tried to give my French teacher at least 1% of my attention span. But then, I suddenly found myself thinking about Dylan again. Phew! It was so lucky that Trent could not read my mind.  
He acted like a bad boy, who the type of guy who your parents would want you to steer clear of, and you’re attracted to them because of this. There was just something about him that made him seem so irresistible to me. I was sort of drawn to him, like a moth to an open flame. Bound to end badly, no matter what I did.  
All that aside, he paid me more attention than any guy ever had. I’d never experienced anything like this. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, like everyone else in the room. There was a tiny voice at the back of my mind telling me that Dylan Scott was bad news, but I decided not to listen for once in my life. I smiled at him and he grinned back at me.  
I couldn’t stop staring at him, in particular at his lips. They were a beautiful pink colour and looked as feather-light as butterfly wings. I thought about how soft they would feel against my own. I imagined I would feel no more pressure then kissing a frail rose. I know this is like so cliché that it hurts your soul, but I’m gonna say it anyway. Looking at him then in that moment, I knew that if he had come over then and tried to kiss me, I would’ve let him. Wait, what? That sounded inexplicably stupid. I feel like someone needs to punch me in the gut just for thinking it.  
Where the heck did all these thoughts come from? My life was extremely boring. Any sane person would probably fall asleep one minute into a biography on the life of Thalia Gold. I read Teen Wolf fanfics, hung out with Trent and did absolutely nothing else. I could count up the number of people whom I could call friends on one hand and the majority of my teachers couldn’t remember my name. It was utterly impossible to think about the possibility of someone thinking I was interesting to talk to or look at.  
There wasn’t anything special about my appearance either. My hair was a fuzzy mess of curls. It was an intense dark colour- whether it was brown or black was undeterminable. My eyes were a russet brown framed by my long dark eyelashes, which I’m told are my best feature. I had mocha coloured skin, but my there were a couple of black dots on my face. Cathy calls them beauty marks. I call them ugly spots. I was naturally skinny, but had virtually no curves. I was too tall for my liking. I am very embarrassed to admit that I liked hanging around with Trent and his sisters (my only other friends), because it made me look smaller. Trent was quite a bit taller than me. His 6’’3 to my 5”11 made me feel a little more normal.  
I have no idea why Dylan is so fascinated about me. If he were anybody else I would suspect that they were trying to play some cruel trick on me like in Carrie. But he wasn’t anybody else. He was the new kid. Whatever past he’d had, whatever his reputation at his last school, here was a fresh start for him. His slate was wiped clean. He could hang out with whomever he wanted; sit with whomever he chose to.  
By the eternal laws of the universe, anybody who looked like him should be sitting with the jocks and cheerleaders. People who did not compare to him looks-wise in the slightest, but whom he just looked better with compared to the rest of us. But no, he chose to strike up a conversation with me, of all people. At the very bottom of the high school food chain. No lower than that actually. People couldn’t exactly pick on you if they weren’t aware that you were actually there. I’d bet anything that most of the kids at my school thought my name was a typo in the yearbook.  
I looked over at Dylan again out of the corner of my eye. He was still watching me. But I was already aware of that. I could still feel his gaze. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to get my head around it. None of it made sense. There was something strange about Dylan. Like he was different from everybody else. Looks aside, he wasn’t like any normal teenage boy. It did creep me out slightly. I wasn’t totally sure, if he was a good thing.  
I was pretty bipolar about the whole situation and didn’t know what to do. So, when the bell rang, I did what I did best and avoided the situation and sneaked away unnoticed. I headed to the bathroom, sat down on the closed lid of the toilet and tried to pull myself together.


	5. Chapter 5

Both Dylan and Trent were in my next class, so we walked to class together. Trent wasn’t happy about it one bit. I could see it in his eyes when I suggested the very idea. I didn’t see why he was acting this way. Dylan hadn’t done anything to him, yet Trent was acting as if the guy had just shot his dog with a .357 Magnum. Trent’s attitude didn’t change as we made our way to French class. It was so tense I was afraid to breathe.  
Trent bombarded Dylan with an assortment of unnecessary questions like “ Where did you move from?”, “Why’d you come to Vermont? and “ How’d you meet Thalia?”. I was sure that,“ How soon can you leave?”, was one of the other questions in his head. He was luck he didn’t ask that. I would’ve punched him in the gut. I was already struggling not to hit him over the head for acting like such a tool.  
But, of course, Dylan replied to each of Trent’s questions in record time, each answer smoother and slicker then the last. Trent kept his arm around me the entire time, like he was marking his territory. He dint seem like himself at all. Dylan didn’t seem to care. He continued to chat away to me, like he’d known me forever. It was weird, but I had to admit that there was something strangely familiar about him.  
It made me a little nervous talking to him, as if it wasn’t right. That I shouldn’t be talking to him or even near him for that matter. Trent tightened his arm around me, sensing I was worried like he always did. I twisted my necklace around my finger and it immediately calmed me down. It had always made me feel safe. The dad I never knew supposedly gave it to me. I made my own assumptions about him being a dick, because Cathy never tells me anything about him. I wouldn’t have worn it, but I’ve just had it for long , ever since I can remember. It feels like a part of me now.  
I walked into the classroom and as I did, Trent jumped in front of Dylan to grab the desk next to me. I was unbelievably confused. I had never had this much attention before and I wasn’t sure if I liked it. I looked at Trent and he looked right back at me. I was worried. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t my Trent. I’d never seen him like this.  
He stared in Dylan’s direction loathingly, with sheer hate in his eyes. I felt slightly empty inside. I didn’t want to lose my best friend. He was everything to me. He didn’t like Dylan, I knew that. Well, that’s the understatement of the year. He obviously held some deep hatred for Dylan that I couldn’t quite comprehend. I inhaled deeply and tried to give my French teacher at least 1% of my attention span. But then, I suddenly found myself thinking about Dylan again. Phew! It was so lucky that Trent could not read my mind.  
He acted like a bad boy, who the type of guy who your parents would want you to steer clear of, and you’re attracted to them because of this. There was just something about him that made him seem so irresistible to me. I was sort of drawn to him, like a moth to an open flame. Bound to end badly, no matter what I did.  
All that aside, he paid me more attention than any guy ever had. I’d never experienced anything like this. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, like everyone else in the room. There was a tiny voice at the back of my mind telling me that Dylan Scott was bad news, but I decided not to listen for once in my life. I smiled at him and he grinned back at me.  
I couldn’t stop staring at him, in particular at his lips. They were a beautiful pink colour and looked as feather-light as butterfly wings. I thought about how soft they would feel against my own. I imagined I would feel no more pressure then kissing a frail rose. I know this is like so cliché that it hurts your soul, but I’m gonna say it anyway. Looking at him then in that moment, I knew that if he had come over then and tried to kiss me, I would’ve let him. Wait, what? That sounded inexplicably stupid. I feel like someone needs to punch me in the gut just for thinking it.  
Where the heck did all these thoughts come from? My life was extremely boring. Any sane person would probably fall asleep one minute into a biography on the life of Thalia Gold. I read Teen Wolf fanfics, hung out with Trent and did absolutely nothing else. I could count up the number of people whom I could call friends on one hand and the majority of my teachers couldn’t remember my name. It was utterly impossible to think about the possibility of someone thinking I was interesting to talk to or look at.  
There wasn’t anything special about my appearance either. My hair was a fuzzy mess of curls. It was an intense dark colour- whether it was brown or black was undeterminable. My eyes were a russet brown framed by my long dark eyelashes, which I’m told are my best feature. I had mocha coloured skin, but my there were a couple of black dots on my face. Cathy calls them beauty marks. I call them ugly spots. I was naturally skinny, but had virtually no curves. I was too tall for my liking. I am very embarrassed to admit that I liked hanging around with Trent and his sisters (my only other friends), because it made me look smaller. Trent was quite a bit taller than me. His 6’’3 to my 5”11 made me feel a little more normal.  
I have no idea why Dylan is so fascinated about me. If he were anybody else I would suspect that they were trying to play some cruel trick on me like in Carrie. But he wasn’t anybody else. He was the new kid. Whatever past he’d had, whatever his reputation at his last school, here was a fresh start for him. His slate was wiped clean. He could hang out with whomever he wanted; sit with whomever he chose to.  
By the eternal laws of the universe, anybody who looked like him should be sitting with the jocks and cheerleaders. People who did not compare to him looks-wise in the slightest, but whom he just looked better with compared to the rest of us. But no, he chose to strike up a conversation with me, of all people. At the very bottom of the high school food chain. No lower than that actually. People couldn’t exactly pick on you if they weren’t aware that you were actually there. I’d bet anything that most of the kids at my school thought my name was a typo in the yearbook.  
I looked over at Dylan again out of the corner of my eye. He was still watching me. But I was already aware of that. I could still feel his gaze. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to get my head around it. None of it made sense. There was something strange about Dylan. Like he was different from everybody else. Looks aside, he wasn’t like any normal teenage boy. It did creep me out slightly. I wasn’t totally sure, if he was a good thing.  
I was pretty bipolar about the whole situation and didn’t know what to do. So, when the bell rang, I did what I did best and avoided the situation and sneaked away unnoticed. I headed to the bathroom, sat down on the closed lid of the toilet and tried to pull myself together.


	6. Chapter 6

“Jesus, you’re slow”, Trent laughed, as I followed him up the ladder into our tree house. We’d built it with the help of Trent’s dad as six year olds. It was my safe haven, but as we got older it became increasingly harder to climb up. For me, at least. I had a lot more energy a decade ago. The whole world just seemed funner at six.

“Its not my fault that I’m athletically challenged.”

“You’re right, it’s mine. I should’ve put you through your paces years ago. At this stage, I think you’re past the point of help.”

I laughed, despite how right he was. When I finally reached the top, about four hundred years later, Trent grabbed my hands and helped me up into the place. It was beyond me how his hands were so warm when it was freezing outside. My hands felt like ice cubes being pressed against a radiator.

The tree house smelled of wood, autumn and a hint of nostalgia. I’d grown up here. This room, this place was my childhood. I sat down on the blue and green polka-dotted beanbag and Trent took the purple plastic chair. Don’t judge. We were six. We had neither colour coordination nor fashion sense. In that moment I realised how long it had been since I’d come up here. I had really missed this place.

Reading my thoughts, Trent sighed. ”When was the last time you came up here with me?”

“Can’t remember. Maybe four or five months. You?”

He smiled crookedly. “Yesterday.” 

“Oh, so you come up here a lot?”

“Sometimes. Just to think.”

“About what?”

“The way things are. Coming to terms with everything. You know.”

“No, I don’t know. Trent, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Thal. It’s nothing. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m a big boy. I can deal with it.”

“Deal with what?”

“I told you, it’s nothing. Just forget I said anything. Let’s drop it for now okay.”

I would drop it for now. But there was no way in hell that I was going to forget about it. Trent rarely looked so painfully serious about things. So when he did, I always knew there was something up. Something big. Because if I could be sure of anything in this world it was that Trent Snow did not get worked up over small, unimportant things. I couldn’t shake the churning feeling in the pit of my stomach, that it had something to do with him leaving for a month. It was stupid and I knew that it was illogical and probably impossible, but that didn’t change the fact that it was there.

Instead of asking him about it again as I so desperately wanted to, I decided to respect his wishes and helped him by changing the subject.

“So, you worried about the French quiz this Friday?”

It was as if hearing this question had allowed him to forget about whatever was bugging him, for the time being at least. His troubled expression changed completely.

“Extremely. You know I suck at French. I can barely speak English on a good day.” Trent’s first language was Spanish, but his Dad hadn’t allowed him to study it at school. He thought it would be cheating.

“I’m not really sweating it. I’ve always kind of had a knack for languages.”

His mouth twitched slightly, an absolute ghost of a smile. “Yeah, I know, Thal. I know.”

I smiled too; glad things seemed to have gotten slightly more normal. Or so I thought. Just when Trent had started to relax again, he tensed up completely. He went deathly pale and looked as if he was about to lose consciousness at any moment. He stared at me and breathed in sharply. “What. Happened. To. Your. Necklace.”

I couldn’t understand why he was suddenly so worried about my necklace. “Well, the chain snapped, so I put it in my backpack.” Which was in his house. “Why do you ask?”

He gulped then quickly jumped up out of his chair. “We have to go. We’ve got to get it now. Like right now.”

“Trent, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

“Please, we can talk about it later. Just listen to me. We have to get that necklace back right away.”

I was still completely in the dark, but I nodded anyway. I followed him down the ladder, out of the tree house, still frightened by his strangely ominous remarks. As fast as I possibly could, I tried to keep up with him as we started towards the back door of the house.

We were about 10 paces from the back door, when I heard something. A sound that sent an icy shiver down my spine and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I never recalled hearing it before, yet I knew it was something bad. Something really bad. I knew Trent heard it too, he looked as alarmed and anxious as I felt. Then suddenly, as quick as the bat of an eyelid something large and black sped past us. Too quick to be human. Too quick to be anything I’d ever seen before.

“What…was that?” I asked looking to Trent. I could hear my voice shaking, threatening to crack. I stood still as stone, too terrified even to move. “We’ve got to run. Fast. Now.”

 

 

“Come on run!” We ran and ran then ran some more, deep into the thick darkness of the forest behind Trent’s house. I had never known true fear until this very moment. My breath was caught in my throat, my lungs struggling to gain the oxygen they needed. I could feel the pounding beat of my ever-quickening pulse drumming in my chest. Again I heard the low growl of whatever creature we were running from. However fast we were going, it wasn’t fast enough.

“It’s getting closer”, Trent told me. The intense fear in his voice as he said this chilled me to the bone. Trent was just as scared as I was. Who was going to be the brave one now? Suddenly, I stopped. My legs finally gave way. “Trent, I can’t. I can’t run anymore.” In half a second, Trent was at my side again. “Fine”, he said as he pulled me up on his back. “Hold on.” With that statement Trent started to run and I mean really run. He went faster than I’d ever seen any human being go. I knew he was good at running, but I didn’t know he was this good.

We sped deeper into the forest, leaving everything behind. I could feel the wind against my skin; the cool breeze blew through my hair. I felt a strange calmness, despite the dangerous situation we were in. Several times, I almost slipped, but I managed to hold on tightly. I knew that if I let go even for a second, the beast would’ve been ready to rip my body to shreds within a matter of seconds.

Then out of nowhere, Trent stopped running, His sudden halt sent me off his back. The rocks bit my skin as I collided with the cold ground. I looked up. There it was. The creature. It was standing still; close enough now that I could see exactly what it was. Frozen with fear, I could not look away. It was 9 feet tall and was covered in glittering black scales. 6-inch claws curved from each one of its ten fingers. Its mouth was wide open revealing its long black tongue and its hundreds of knife-sharp teeth, ready for ripping skin and bone alike to pieces. It frothed at the mouth and its blood curdling red eyes were fixated on one thing. Me.

 

A low snarl escaped from beside me. That wasn’t the monster. It was Trent. Scared as I was, I looked up at him. His usual hazel eyes were now a glowing amber colour. Claws protruded from where his fingernails used to be. I could see the veins in his arms growing more prominent by the second. I edged away from him. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. “Trent?” I croaked. I struggled to get the words out. My throat was closing up. He didn’t answer me. His eyes were focused on the thing in front of us. “I have to”, he snarled, talking more so to himself than to me, “It’s the only way”. I was about to ask him what exactly he meant by that statement, but I had barely opened my mouth when he leaped across the area separating us from whatever that thing was. Nothing, no one, no fragment of my imagination could have possibly anticipated what was happening. I wanted to shut my eyes, but I was unable to look away.

Mid-air, Trent’s olive skin seemed to burst, replaced by russet fur within a matter of milliseconds. The low growl I had heard erupted into a bellowing roar, as he pounced on the creature. I couldn’t stop tears from running down my face as I watched my best friend disappear before my very eyes. I couldn’t help it. I screamed. The thing that used to be Trent flinched and turned to look round at me. I shut my eyes tightly, but opened them again when I heard a yelp. It had left itself open, allowing the other creature to attack with a swift claw to the jaw. The wolf-like thing was knocked to the ground for a moment, but it quickly picked itself back up again and hit back just as fiercely.

The fight became more intense with each passing second, increasing in both speed and force. Soon, I couldn’t see much apart from a blur of fur, clothes and jet-black scales. True, I was afraid, knowing that this battle’s verdict could lead to my death, but it scared me more that my best friend had to be in there somewhere. The thing was wearing his clothes after all. I didn’t want to believe it. Logic, my brain told me that the thought of such things existing was highly impossible, but there was no other explanation. It was only then that I noticed the stinging pain coming from my arm. As I lifted it I saw where the rocks had torn my long-sleeved t-shirt. From the tip of my elbow to the middle of my forearm, there was a raw, red gash. It stung painfully and gravel was uncomfortably stuck inside the wound. It was nothing compared to the alternative if the black monster won this fight. I bit down on my lip hard and swallowed my pain.

I glanced up again. I still couldn’t make out exactly what was going on. The fight didn’t last much longer though. A couple of seconds later, it finally ended. Something let out a high-pitched screech. A single bone chilling note that shook my spine and sent goosebumps up along my arms and neck. Dark smoke evaporated into the clear blue sky, vanishing as if it had never been there. A thick black liquid substance stained the ground and the panting wolf that knelt beside it. I collapsed and seemed to whimper for a few moments. I was completely and utterly terrified, but part of me wanted to make sure it was alright. It had saved my life after all. However, the majority of me wanted to scream and run. I did neither.

Before long the fur seemed to shrink away, replace by Trent’s skin once more. My worst fears were confirmed. What was he?

He stood up slowly and turned around to face me, black goo dripping from his clothes. I felt fear take over my body, as I found myself edging away from him. I stood up; still backing away, ready to make a run for it if I needed to. Trent gradually made his way towards me, holding his hands up in front of me in a defensive position. I could hear my breathing quickening and becoming heavier with each step he took. I felt my hands beginning to shake, terror controlling more of me than I had a say in.

“Thalia”, Trent began, his tone slow and steady, the way you would speak to a small child. “Thalia, it’s okay. Everything’s alright now, don’t worry. “ When he saw that I didn’t react, he came closer. Now little over a foot away from me, he reached for my hand as if nothing had happened. ”Let’s go get your necklace back.”

I yanked my hand away and jumped backwards. Was he serious right now? “No”, I yelled, screaming at the top of my voice. “Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me. Do you realise what just happened?!?! I’m not going anywhere with you until you give me an explanation to what the hell is going on!!”

He looked pained, torn. Like he didn’t know what to do. “Thalia, please”, he pleaded” Please, I promise you that I will tell you everything, anything you want to know as soon as we get back to the house and get your necklace back! Your safety needs to come first, but as soon as we do that, I swear I will tell you whatever you want. I promise.”

I kept my mouth shut. There was nothing I could say. How could I trust him? What else might he be keeping from me? He was my best friend. My whole life I had kept nothing from him. We had sworn that there would never be any secrets between us. I’d kept up my side of the bargain and I thought he had too. I couldn’t be sure what our friendship meant to him after this.

“I don’t break my promises. Remember?” I closed my eyes. My heart twisted inside my chest. A familiar memory replayed in my head. I sighed as I glanced down at the beaded bracelet on my right arm. Vaguely and slowly, I nodded my head. He was Trent. Every part of me knew that he would never lead me astray. He looked down at me and I looked right back up at him. He smiled the crooked smile I loved so much and held out his hand to me once more. This time, I took it.


End file.
